Tightening stock grants to
employees. "Reversing the negative trend of
growing stock based compensation as a percent of revenue (yes,
many companies have growing SBC expense, but SBC is a real cost
and it seems odd that SBC is deleveraging at this stage in
Google’s lifecycle)"

More insight into products like
YouTube. "Revisiting financial reporting lines
and disclosures so investors have a better picture of the
health of the search business (YouTube is not unknown to
competitors and could be contributing close to 10% of gross
revenues in 2015, we think it's time to disclose)"

Analysts also said they were pleased to see the word "discipline"
crop up in Google's announcement of the news. In its press
release, Google wrote that with Porat's leadership it would
"invest in a thoughtful, disciplined way in our next
generation of big bets.”

As Google's search growth has slowed, investors have been wary
about Google's big investments in futuristic technologies like
internet-bearing balloon and glucose-sensing contacts that won't
be money-makers any time soon, if ever. Analysts hope that the
continued emphasis on discipline (which Google also mentioned in
its Q4 earnings call) means that the company won't make quite as
many investments in 2015 as it did in 2014, to "maintain at least
10% earnings growth."